These are local counties to me (Hillsborough is the county for Tampa, Pasco is the county just to the North).
What happens in this video is not at all atypical, and I think what happened is what SHOULD have happened.
- She ran a stop sign
- She got pulled over & was upset
-- so far perfectly normal and fine -- - she got belligerent, then she got her husband involved
- she got even MORE belligerent & wouldn't even listen to her husband when he said she needed to calm down.
... then the shit hit the fan...
The husband (a Sheriff's Deputy in the larger Hillsborough County) tries to defend his wife (with her constant goading and whining in the background) and decides to try to play a "professional courtesy" card to get her out of it... only (possibly because of the wife's behavior, possibly not) the ticketing officer says no.
Had he left it there, she'd have gotten a ticket and all would be done... but noooo
She continues to be belligerent - not even willing to let the Deputy say the "spiel" he's got to about options - and the husband starts in on the "professional courtesy" thing. He insists on talking to a supervisor, he really thinks escalating things is going to get him somewhere...
It does... it gets him a perjury charge and a return ticket to the unemployment office. He let his wife goad him into getting him a criminal charge AND the loss of his job/career.
Here's a simple rule: when you mess up, admit it and move on!
My grandfather said: when you find yourself in a hole, the first step is always the same: stop digging
This guy kept digging & finally hit a sewer line full of shit! And for what he did, he got the punishment he deserved.
As a cop, you have my respect and my thinks for doing a job that is difficult on its BEST days! But respect and thanks is not the same as carte-blanche to break the law, or let your wife do so! You still have to follow the same laws the rest of us do!
IMHO, cudos to the Pasco Sheriff's office for following up professionally, and cudos to the Hillsborough Sheriff's office for dismissing a bad egg when it was revealed.